Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Poetry Day Ireland takes place on 7 May 2015 and will celebrate poetry’s vital place in our culture by making poetry both inescapable and irresistible for a day. Groups, organisations, libraries, schools, bookshops, poets and all poetry lovers are invited to get involved.

Poetry Ireland encourages everyone to become involved and has plenty of ideas on its website. There are loads of free materials available also to help celebrate the day.

The website is also adding events as they are being organized.

Boyne Writers Group has organised Poetry On Tara, a poetry reading and open mic in Maguire's Cafe on the Hill of Tara. It takes place at 7.30pm on Thursday 7 May and all are welcome. People are invited to read favourite poems and/or their own poetry and there is no admittance charge.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Some news from Prole Books who publish the always interesting prose and poetry journal, Prole. The latest issue Prole 16 is now available to purchase from the website.

They are open to submissions of prose or poetry all year round. They aim for a four week turnaround – though if a piece of writing is shortlisted, a final decision can take a little longer.

They have just opened for entries for their annual prose writing competition, the Prolitzer Prize. Full details on the website. Prizes: Winner: £200, publication in Prole; two runners up: £50, possible publication in Prole 18; publication on the Prole website.

Judge: Jaki McCarrick. Entries are anonymised prior to judging. Open: April 1st 2015 and closes: October 1st 2015. Unpublished prose only. Word limit 2500. Fees: £4.00 for one entry, £3.00 each for further entries. Enter via the website. Payment can be made by PayPal.

In Caboodle, they've put together six short poetry collections into one publication. Karina Vidler, Gill McEvoy, Russell Jones, Kate Garrett, Angela Croft and Rafael Miguel Montes have created a powerful body of work for both avid and occasional readers of great poetry.

Wendy Pratt’s Museum Pieces is also making waves and bringing a very talented writer to a wider audience. Wendy is certainly a writer to look out for.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

I'm delighted to have a poem included in the current issue of the online magazine, The Pickled Body. The editors are well-known Irish poets, Dimitra Xidous and Patrick Chapman. Dimitra's first collection was published by Doire Press and Patrick has a number of collections published by Salmon Poetry.

The theme for this issue was Quantum and it includes work by Marjorie Lofti Gill, Iggy McGovern, Eleanor Hooker, Kate Dempsey, Afric McGlinchey, Angela T Carr, Paul Casey and others. Good company!

The poem is based on a painting by the Cavan artist, Roisin Duffy, which I saw at her exhibition in Bailieborough Library last October which coincided with our LitLab Bailieborough Poetry Festival. Roisin's website is here.

The poem is called "My Fish and I" which is the title of Roisin's painting, below.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

International author and editor Frank Joussen from Germany is looking for short stories (500 - 3,500 words approx.) or very creatively written non-fiction stories that focus strongly on relationships within the family.

Frank was one of the co-editors of the international anthology "Family Matters" by Indian publisher Nivasini which included a number of stories and poems by Irish authors including poems of mine..

As in that book, the aim is to string together stories from many different cultures, age groups, religions, countries. How much do we really know about family life in other countries, other cultures? How much of our cultural knowledge is based on hearsay or worn out clichés?

The stories will be translated into German, therefore the editor is only asking for first-time publication rights in the German language. All rights remain with the authors and the English original version can still be considered unpublished. Previously published pieces are also more than welcome. Frank's email address is : f_joussen@t-online.de

For reviews of the original "Family Matters" anthology please go to here and here.

The deadline is 1 July. Frank pays one complimentary copy and is willing to send you more copies at a reduced price.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

At the 2014 summer school, the Yeats Society Poetry Competition in memory of the late Seamus Heaney was announced.

The Judge: Paula Meehan, Ireland's Professor of Poetry.
Closing date: 1st May 2015.
The Prize: €500.00
A tuition scholarship to the 2015 Yeats International Summer School 26th July - 7th August 2015.
Participation in the Summer School Poetry workshop which will be faciliated by Eavan Boland on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd August.

The list of the five short-listed entries will be published on the Yeats Society website and newsletter.

Rules:
Entrants may submit up to 3 poems.
All entries must be in PDF form and be submitted via email to yeatssummerschool@yeatssociety.com.
Poems must be a maximum of 40 lines.
All poems must be the original work of a living author and must not have been previously published, self-published, published on a website or broadcast.
The name of the entrant must not appear on the poems themselves.
No alterations may be made to poems once they have been submitted.
The decision of the judge is final and no correspondence can be entered into regarding the judge's decision.
Copyright will remain with the competitor, but the Yeats Society reserves the right to arrange first publication or broadcast of the selected poems as it sees fit.
Submission of a poem implies the competitor's acceptance of the conditions set out above.
Entries should arrive no later than 1st May 2015.
Entries must be paid by credit / debit card through PayPal. The Fee per poem is €10.00.

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I'm a retired teacher and ICT Advisor who writes history and poetry. A native of County Sligo now living in Meath. A member of LitLab the Cavan/Meath Writers' Group, of Boyne Writers, Trim, County Meath and former editor of their magazine Boyne Berries.